The major objective of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) is to gather the data needed to estimate the prevalence and incidence of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities in the U.S. general population. This information will allow for the examination of the natural history of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities, identification of subgroups of the population at risk for these disabilities, refinement of etiologic hypotheses, and formation of the basis of rational and scientifically-based intervention and prevention programs. NESARC is a longitudinal survey with its first wave conducted in 2001-2002. The Wave 1 NESARC was a representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized adult population of the United States, 18 years and older, residing in households and grouop quarters. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 43,093 respondents. The NESARC oversampled blacks, Hispanics and young adults 18 to 24 years old. The overall response rate was 81.0% The 2004-2005 Wave 2 NESARC's response rate was 86.7%, reflecting 34,653 completed interviews. Over the next several months the LEB will be conducting in-depth statistical analyses of the Wave 1-2 longitudinal data on alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities. [unreadable] [unreadable] The major objectives of the Wave 1 and Wave 2 NESARC are:[unreadable] [unreadable] to determine the prevalence, incidence, remission, chronicity and recurrence of alcohol and drug use disorders and their associated psychiatric and medical comorbidities; [unreadable] [unreadable] to understand the relationships between alcohol and drug use disorders and other psychiatric and medical disorders over time; [unreadable] [unreadable] to determine the number and characteristics of individuals receiving and in need of treatment for alcohol and drug use disorders and their associated disabilities;[unreadable] [unreadable] to increase understanding of the interrelationships among individual and environmental factors, conditions and situations under which alcohol and violence are connected;[unreadable] [unreadable] to determine the magnitude and extent of binge drinking among college-aged young adults and the adult population and to identify the characteristics of binge drinkers and risk factors influencing the initiation and remission of this hazardous drinking pattern;[unreadable] [unreadable] to test competing etiologic models of comorbidity within a longitudinal context; [unreadable] [unreadable] to conduct methodological and nosological research for the purpose of creating DSM-IV/ICD-11 research diagnostic criteria, as an adjunct to their clinical diagnostic criteria, for use in research areas (e.g., genetics, neuroscience) that have been hindered by existing clinical criteria;[unreadable] [unreadable] to estimate the disease burden (DALYs and YLDs) attributable to alcohol, drug and mental disorders in the United States; and[unreadable] [unreadable] to expand receiver operating characteristic analyses to the alcohol and drug field using survey data.